Swimming::8059::
by sokkaluvr198
Summary: Gokudera has a new fear, and Yamamoto's going to help him break it. YAOI. Don't like, don't read.


Swimming was probably the most terrifying thing for me.

With the water splashing, your feet unstable and kicking around, and your neck stretching out above the water so you could get air –it was all a dream, a nightmare for me when I tried to. So as I stood there, frowning, and wondering how I had agreed to this.

Was it to please the 10th?

No, I'm not that loyal to him.

Was it to see bat boy shirtless?

Hell no, I saw him shirtless every time he decided to change clothes in front of me.

So why had I agreed? I had no effing idea.

"Come on, Gokudera! You're missing out!" Bat boy called from in the pool, but I kept my feet cemented into the tiled edges of the pool. "Haha you know you want to!"

"Shut up, baseball idiot, I'll go in when I feel like it!" Bat boy merely gave his usual smile and dove under the water, his body a dark mass from my view. I stared at it, imagining Bat boy wet and smiling under the water –

I shook my head.

Hell no would I think those thoughts right now.

"Gokudera, are you coming in?" I shifted my glance to the 10th, who was staring at me curiously while walking down the pools steps and into the blue acid. I shook my head for a response, which he shook off and dove into the water like Bat boy had done.

And then suddenly, I felt warm and wet hands touch my back.

Not prepared for that I spun around and nearly fell into the water, but grabbed onto bat boy's tan arms. He laughed at my shocked expression and pink cheeks, holding onto my arms as well. "What? Are you scared of the water haha, Gokudera?"

"No, you idiot, I just don't want to swim!"

"Then why'd you get in a swimsuit?"

"I don't know –"

"You should swim :3"

"As if –"

Bat boy laughed, pushing me into the deep end of the pool. I let out a scream before being forced into the blue poison by gravity –no, this could _not_ be happening! The water made a cracking sound as I hit the water, frightening me into numbness. The water wrapped around my throat, pushing me towards the bottom of the pool with ever-changing hands. I tried to reach for something –anything to pull me out of the devil's grasp but to no prevail. I was sinking, my vision caving into a solid black. And then, I felt hands –actual flesh and blood –grab my shoulder and pull me up. When I felt my head outside of the water I started coughing up every drop that had been stuck in my throat back into the pool. Afterwards my aching head dropped on someone's shoulder, my legs wrapped around their body since we were still in the deadly and deep pool.

"Is…is he okay?" Tsuna's voice broke the silence I hadn't even realized was there. And then suddenly, I became more aware of my surroundings. My body was shaking –violently –and my teeth were clattering. It wasn't from the water though, the water was warm, it was from me being afraid and scared. I grabbed onto to the person tighter as the thought hit me of who it was.

Lambo and I-Pin went to the kid area to swim.

Kyoko and Haru went shopping together.

Reborn wasn't big enough, and Tsuna's voice didn't sound close…that could only mean –

"Yamamoto…!" My voice sounded hushed as I leaned back to look at the wet baseball player. My stomach clenched as I bit my lip, not knowing what to say to him. Instead of waiting for me to say something, though, he wrapped his arms tight around me to where my head was back on his shoulder and he swam to the side of the pool with me latching onto him. The water moved around our bodies gently, but I still felt like it would pull me under at any minute.

"Tsuna, can you get some towels?" Yamamoto suggested, prying me off of him and lifting me up onto the side of the pool once we reached the side. I heard Tsuna's feet pad away –slower than I wanted. My body was still shaking with fright. I pulled my legs up to me chest and out of the water, Yamamoto climbing out of the pool and sitting down beside me.

And then weirdly, I felt his arm wrap around me. I looked down at his hand as it rubbed my arm up and down, not knowing how to react for once.

"T –thanks…" I muttered to him, who nodded and scooted closer to me.

He put his mouth right next to my ear and whispered, "You can't swim can you?"

When he asked that question, anger seemed to boil up inside of my stomach. "Leave me alone you bastard!" With my shaky legs I stood and stomped off, ignoring the fact that I was still soaking wet.

Later, I hadn't even looked at Yamamoto. I'd been completely ignoring him, even when he came up to talk, or sat down next to me. I couldn't look him in the eyes –I couldn't even bare to sit next to him! My body still felt shaky from my near-death experience and I could feel his eyes on me at all times as if he knew and he felt like he should protect me. It irritated me, having to be protected. Even worse –by bat boy for God's sake!

I shook my head angrily while trying to relax to get some sleep. I was lying on my sleeping bag on the ground, Yamamoto and Tsuna both lying in the same bed with pillows in between them. Yamamoto had offered to let me sleep in the bed (probably because of the incident earlier), but I had merely snarled at him and lied down on my sleeping bag.

So there I was, my mind not resting, and my body still shaking as if I were in Antarctica only in my birthday suit. I thought of the tenth, and how disappointed he probably felt. How can I deserve to be in the mafia if I can't even swim? I rolled over, eyeing my swim trunks half-sticking out of my black bag.

Well, might as well try it.

I stared into the water, wondering what to do. I needed to impress the 10th, and I needed to prove to Yamamoto that I could swim. But my body was already shaking from fright, and I knew this time no one would be able to save me. I took a deep breath, though, and right before I even got close to getting in the pool a hand pulled me back. "What the fu –"

I paused.

There was Yamamoto.

"Need help?" He asked a small smile on his face. I didn't reply, but let him take my hand and lead me to the steps of the pool. I then realized that he was already in his swimsuit.

"Why are you in your swimsuit?" I questioned him, taking a step into the pool and holding onto his hand tighter.

"I figured you were here." He let go of my hand and turned around, wrapping his arms around me and swimming outward into the pool. I closed my eyes and tried to relax in his grasp, but couldn't help but feel vulnerable to the water. I could practically feel my lungs getting full of water, my throat tightening and vision scarce -

"I –I can't do this, take me to the stairs, please!" I begged, holding onto Yamamoto as tight as I could. I felt his breath lay heavily on my ear as I needed my head into the crevice oh his neck –my lips rubbing across his skin as he swam to the steps in the pool. Once there I moved my body to sit on the second tallest step, my arms hanging limply from around Yamamoto's arms.

"You were doing good, ya know?" He whispered to me while placing his hands on my hips. I blushed at the movement, turning my head to glare at him.

"Don't touch me there…!" I ordered, crossing my arms across my chest.

"Oh?" He responded in a playful voice as his hands met my chest. "How about there?"

"Uh, no,"

"What about here –"

"When hell freezes over, bat boy,"

"Hmm…right here, maybe…?"

"W –what the –"

Yamamoto's right hand was rubbing across my lower stomach, right where my swimsuit came up on my hips. His left hand was running its fingers through my bangs as his body moved close to me. And when his face was less than an inch from mine, I saw my jaw-dropping future…

His lips attached themselves onto mine like Velcro, his tongue moving deep into my mouth and attacking mine. My first instinct was to push him away and shout something crude like "WHAT THE HELL BAT BOY?!" But I didn't.

It felt too damn good.

And as soon as the marvelous kiss had started, he started to pull away –walking backwards in the pool. Without thinking I sat up from the steps and wrapped my arms around his neck, moving with him towards the back. Slowly we swam together, me kicking my legs slowly as he was doing and our lips never separating. Then, realization hit me. Yamamoto kissing me was a decoy –something to get me to relax while he pulled me around the pool, forcing me to swim. But there was something about the way his hands kept running over my chest and the way his lips didn't cease to please mine that made me think differently.

Maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way.

He moved his lips away from mine for a moment, looking into my eyes as our bangs entangled together while my forehead rested on his. The water gently floated around us, no longer pulling me down to the floor in hopes of me no longer breathing.

For once, water had never seemed so inviting.


End file.
